MatthewStarr Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi guys I have been looking into the blue stripe pipefish for some time now. I just haven't found tons of info on them. I have a nano tank and I think the small size of these fish is perfect. Now what would be the proper living environment for them? temp, sal, water perams, etc? I know they eat live copepods but is it easy to train them on brine shrimp or equivalent? Anybody who has experience with these little guys are welcome to give me some advice. Also can they handle high flow? medium flow? or low flow? Link to comment
kgoldy Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi guys I have been looking into the blue stripe pipefish for some time now. I just haven't found tons of info on them. I have a nano tank and I think the small size of these fish is perfect. Now what would be the proper living environment for them? temp, sal, water perams, etc? I know they eat live copepods but is it easy to train them on brine shrimp or equivalent? Anybody who has experience with these little guys are welcome to give me some advice. Also can they handle high flow? medium flow? or low flow? They require low flow and no large or active tank mates. (See Live Aquaria's recommendations here.) Their mouths can be a bit too small for brine shrimp, so copepods are a must. They should only be put into a very mature tank with lots of pods and little to no competition for food. I'd recommend nothing smaller than 30 gallons. If you're interested in keeping one in a nano- try to see if you're able to successfully breed pods in a few jars/buckets for a few weeks. I would recommend Alga-Gen Tisbe. Temp, sal, water params are the same as any other reef fish. Link to comment
MatthewStarr Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 anybody else have any luck with these guys? Link to comment
Catbus Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 not sure if pipefish care is transferable through the individual species, but i keep a dragonface in my 70with a sump, tank mates are PBT 2 clowns 3 anthias. have had him for a couple months now, just be sure you have sufficient pod population (my tank is 3-4 yrs old) Link to comment
kgoldy Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 not sure if pipefish care is transferable through the individual species, but i keep a dragonface in my 70with a sump, tank mates are PBT 2 clowns 3 anthias. have had him for a couple months now, just be sure you have sufficient pod population (my tank is 3-4 yrs old) There are pretty significant differences between the blue stripe and dragon face. For one, blue stripes get to a max size of 3", while dragon faces get to 7". That is a really, really significant difference in size. Dragons probably have 6+ times the total body mass of a fully grown blue stripe. Another "The Dragonface Pipefish is a poor swimmer and prefers to travel by sliding its body over substrate and live rock similar to the way a snake moves. The Dragonface Pipefish can also use its tail to loosely anchor itself to corals or rocks" (from Live Aquaria). Blue stripes will never move along the substrate, and that's why the need much slower currents. Blue stripes have super tiny mouths. Most of the time I see mine eating, he's picking at pods that are literally too small for me to see. Here's my fully grown blue stripe next to a peppermint shrimp. Seriously, putting these things in a tank that doesn't have a monstrous pod population is a certain death sentence. They're like the humming birds of the sea- they need to constantly be foraging in order to survive. Link to comment
wombat Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 IME blue stripes are relatively easy to get eating on frozen foods compared to other pipefish. Not a wise choice for a tank with wrasses/mandarins or other pod competitors in it. I disagree that they need low flow. I've seen these guys on full blown reefs with massive surge and current in the wild, and doing well in SPS tanks in captivity. They are good swimmers. Link to comment
MatthewStarr Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 IME blue stripes are relatively easy to get eating on frozen foods compared to other pipefish. Not a wise choice for a tank with wrasses/mandarins or other pod competitors in it. I disagree that they need low flow. I've seen these guys on full blown reefs with massive surge and current in the wild, and doing well in SPS tanks in captivity. They are good swimmers. Thats what I thought too. Do they require a specific temperature like the dwarf seahorses? Or can they manage with a tank that has 81 degree temperatures? Link to comment
MatthewStarr Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 They'll be fine at 81 degrees. Okay good my tank is 81-82. Now would supplementing the tank with bottled live copepods help? I also found ocean nutrition baby brine shrimp. Apparently quite a few people have had luck with feeding finicky feeders and seahorses/pipefish. Others have had success with cyclopeeze. Or live baby brine shrimp. Whats your take on this? Link to comment
wombat Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Okay good my tank is 81-82. Now would supplementing the tank with bottled live copepods help? I also found ocean nutrition baby brine shrimp. Apparently quite a few people have had luck with feeding finicky feeders and seahorses/pipefish. Others have had success with cyclopeeze. Or live baby brine shrimp. Whats your take on this? Live copepods certainly can't hurt. I would feed all 4 of the foods you listed. They will also eventually take frozen mysid shrimp. You are also going to want to encourage copepod growth in your tank. Light phytoplankton dosing will help with this. I am a big fan of live baby brine. Fish readily eat it and if it is enriched in phytoplankton it is quite nutritious for fish. The only downside is it is kind of a PITA to hatch on a regular basis. Cyclop-eeze is good to get some astaxanthin in fish and for a bit of HUFAs but it is very rich in saturated fat and should be fed sparingly IMO. Fish fed a diet high in cyclop-eeze will develop fatty deposits around their organs and eventually die from it. Link to comment
MatthewStarr Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 why is your temp so high? Because of the LED's. Even with the fan it has it won't go below 81. The highest temp for reef anyway is 84. All my fish and corals have been fine with 81-82 temp for a year now. Live copepods certainly can't hurt. I would feed all 4 of the foods you listed. They will also eventually take frozen mysid shrimp. You are also going to want to encourage copepod growth in your tank. Light phytoplankton dosing will help with this. I am a big fan of live baby brine. Fish readily eat it and if it is enriched in phytoplankton it is quite nutritious for fish. The only downside is it is kind of a PITA to hatch on a regular basis. Cyclop-eeze is good to get some astaxanthin in fish and for a bit of HUFAs but it is very rich in saturated fat and should be fed sparingly IMO. Fish fed a diet high in cyclop-eeze will develop fatty deposits around their organs and eventually die from it. Good i'll feed him all those then. I'll start with the live brine. Now, i've never done live brine before. The kit makes a liter filled with tons of them. Am I suppose to feed the tank the whole amount or can I keep them in the coke bottle for days? Also how could I keep a steadily supply of live baby brine? Link to comment
tamiw Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I just wanted to pop in and say yes, they're great litte reef fish. They usually learn to eat frozen pretty quickly. Mine eat food that looks much too larger for their mouths, they will snick it to pieces. In addition to brine shrimp, try nutramar ova and mysis shrimp (smaller is better, so skip P.E. mysis). They do well with high flow too, but make sure any overflows and intakes are protected, they're very inquisitive. They're also extremely good at hiding, so even if you don't see yours for a day or two, don't be be surprised if it pops our a few days later. I've found the males are much more hidey than the females. Link to comment
wombat Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Because of the LED's. Even with the fan it has it won't go below 81. The highest temp for reef anyway is 84. All my fish and corals have been fine with 81-82 temp for a year now. Good i'll feed him all those then. I'll start with the live brine. Now, i've never done live brine before. The kit makes a liter filled with tons of them. Am I suppose to feed the tank the whole amount or can I keep them in the coke bottle for days? Also how could I keep a steadily supply of live baby brine? Google "how to keep Artemia" and you will get the phone book. They are very hardy. Just keep them at low density in aerated seawater (you can do this in a 5g bucket), at room temperature, and feed them phytoplankton. Phytoplankton concentrates can be purchased from Reed Mariculture and Reef Nutrition. And no, you would not want to put a liter of Artemia nauplii in your little tank. I would suggest hatching a couple tablespoons or so of cysts to start and go from there. Feed enough so that your pipefish can eat for a few minutes, and repeat several times a day. You may find you only need to hatch the cysts once a week or so if you are good at keeping them alive. Link to comment
reefhound Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 here is a pic of a Blue Stripe and Dragon Face added today the blue stripe is 2" long and definitely needs copepods. also trying R.O.E. (the lfs said they where feeding on it) but I had a hunch they where full of crap. (dragon face was starved) I would most definitely have a tank set up to support live food propagation (Tisbe copepods) Amphipods are free swimmers, and mine have mostly wound up in the filtration, but have still reproduced. Amphipods are also a little quick for the Dragon face to catch the dragon face will be pretty susceptible to predation from normal reef inhabitants like crab (including hermit) and shrimp. stinging corals and anemone should also be kept out of the tank, with very few exceptions. here is a good resource to start with http://fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/pipefish-reef-aquarium/ Link to comment
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